UPSRTC urges all DMs, SPs not to obstruct movement of 200 special buses carrying migrant labourers from Delhi to Uttar Pradesh

The Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) has requested all District Magistrates (DMs), Senior Superintendents of Police (SSPs) and other officials not to obstruct the movement of 200 special buses being run to provide transport facilities to people stuck at various places in the border areas with Delhi.

"On the directions of the Government of Uttar Pradesh, the UPSRTC is deploying buses to provide transport facilities to people stuck at various points at border districts of Delhi. The buses have started reaching Noida and Ghaziabad. Around 200 buses will depart from every 2 hours from 8 am onwards," read a letter written by the Managing Director (MD) UPSRTC, Raj Shekhar, to the administration.

"A few buses which have already left Gaziabad, Noida and bordering areas are on the way to various destinations in Uttar Pradesh... We have received few issues of stopping these buses at various checking points in various districts. UPSRTC would requests all DMs/SSPs/SPs to inform all their border checkpoints not to stop these buses enroute," it added.

The letter further mentioned that the task of ferrying passengers to their destination in Uttar Pradesh will continue till 29 March.

The letter further posed a request to the "Destination Points District DMs" to take note of the bus details reaching their district points today and tomorrow and to make arrangements for the medical screening of all passengers alighting at the termination points.

Meanwhile, hundreds of people, comprising mostly of migrant workers and their families, gathered at the Lal Kua from Delhi, Gurugram and other places, to take buses to their respective destinations amid the lockdown. The majority of those who arrived at Lal Kua, had completed their journey from their places of stay in Delhi to the place of departure for the buses on foot.

While the Prime Minister had imposed a nationwide lockdown to prevent the spread of coronavirus, the UP administration had decided to ply these buses to help thousands of migrant workers who were stuck in the national capital and had started returning, even on foot, to their native places in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, among others.